What comes after?
by blueyesbane
Summary: Alec is depressed and not handling it well. His life revolves around listening to music, reading and going to work Garroway Bookshop, thats until he meets Magnus of course.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys, this is my first fanfic (I hope that doesn't put any of you guys off reading this :/)**

 **Anyways literally everything belongs to queen Cassie.**

 _We're just sad kids, who put all of our hope in the fact that putting our headphones in makes us feel like we're not alone._

 _But does everyone else feel this alone?_

Alec stared at himself in the mirror. He was wearing all black, of course, he won't be seen dead in anything else. His black beanie pushed his raven black hair over his shockingly blue eyes. He wore a long sleeved shirt and lose fitting jeans tucked into his doc martins, and had his white headphone firmly jammed into his ears to block out the rest of the world.

Alec had been staring at himself for sometime, trying to find one thing, just one, which he could truly say he like about himself, but yet again he came up with nothing. Sick of having his reflection staring back at him he quickly hurried out the door of his crappy apartment and rushed out of his dingy apartment block, on to the street.

He walked for sometime before he finally reached the bookshop where he worked. Garroway Books was a small bookshop hidden between big commercial shops. Alec loved it, he loved the smell of the books, both old and new. He loved the way that the books could let him get lost in a world of his own, where nothing to touch him, nothing could worry him. He had being going their since he was a kid and had got a job their about three years ago, after luke , the owner, had suggested it. Luke had said that Alec spent most of his time there anyways and he would have to earn money some how, after what happened.

Alec shuddered remembering that night and the nights leading up to it. _No you dont want to think about that, not now, save it for after work when your alone, you cant let luke down. Not after all that his has done for you and all that he continues to do for you. your not that level of selfish alec._

Alec opened the old rustic door of the bookshop and hear the familiar sound of the small bell above the door ring, announcing his presence. Then he switched the sign that said 'closed' to 'open'. After he had turned around from doing that he was met face to face with a short red haired girl with brilliant green eyes, Clary. Clary was pretty and a lovely girl, who Alec was very fond of but that was it. Alec remembered back to a time when he had tried to convince himself that he was in love with Clary, or at least in like. He had tired so hard to try to love her but he couldn't. He couldn't love any girl in that way. And it's not like Clary had ever been interested in Alec in that way anyway but she was the only girl Alec was close to except for his sister Izzy. God how he missed her.

"So Alec how have you been?" Clary said very seriously, her eyes scanning his face for any trace of anxiety or hurt or distress or just about anything really.

"I'm fine Clary" Alec replied walking towards the back room where all the employees left there stuff.

Clary tagged along behind him. "Anything different with you then, Alec?"

Alec sighed loudly, "No Clary, i'm fine, now come on we get paid to work, not gossip"

"Ugh I suppose your right" she replied, "but look" she said as they walked back out on to the shop floor, "its not like its exactly busy out here, and its not like its going to be busy today, i man look at the weather, no one is going to want to go outside in that"

Alec looked out the window, what Clary had said was true, the weather was awful, it was blowing a gale outside and it was tipping it down. Funny, Alec had barely noticed it when he was walking here.

"Okay fine, you have a point" Alec said, "I'll compromise, we can work and talk, we need to do our November reading recommendations anyway"

"yay" Clary squealed.

And with that they started writing down there choices for the shops November reading recommendations. Clary talked on and on about her mum's and Luke's relationship but Alec didn't mind. In fact he quite liked hearing about the relationship. It was sweet Luke and Jocelyn had liked each other forever but had always been scared that the other didn't feel the same way but now FINALLY they were going to get married. During Clary's rambles about the wedding they some how managed to come up with there recommendations, they had narrowed it down to five each.

Clary's List:

The Lie Tree - Frances Hardinge

Salt to the Sea - Ruta Septeys

The kite runner - Hosseini Khaled

We were liars -

Twilight - Stephenie Meyer

Alec groaned when he saw the last choice, "come on Clary you have put that in our recommendations so many times! Its not even a good book"

Clary gasped and faked being offened before responding, "oh come on Alec, we both you have read the whole saga... multiple times"

It was true Alec had read them many times, even though he knew they were awful. "Okay fine you got me" he said giving her a playful shuve. "so whats on your list then oh book wizard" said Clary jokingly.

Alec's List:

You get so alone at times that it just makes sense - Charles Bukowski

Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy

Jill - Philip Larkin

Brighton Rock - Graham Greene

The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath

"God Alec those are the most depressing books I've ever read! I swear not one of them has a happy ending"

"Clary, I'm sorry to break it to you but life doesn't always have a happy ending" said Alec whilst neatly stacking his choices on the counter.

"Exactly" she replied "That's why people need books. Books can distract them from the burdens of reality, even if it is only for a short amount of time"

"yes, but it just leaves them all the more disappointed when they come back to reality" said Alec as he leaded on the counter casting his eyes around the empty book shop.

"Hey what's wrong?" said Clary with concern

 _Shit Alec whats wrong with you?! Your not meant to say your feelings it just makes her worry about you and treat you differently._

"Oh nothing, sorry to be depressing I'm just tired a guess. Its been a long week"

 _Lies. Absolute lies. Your tiredness has nothing to do with the week, it has something more to do with the fact that you slept on your bathroom floor last night after you passed out._

"yeah, tell me about it" said clary with a small chuckle. "Anyways I'm going to go and sort out stock in the back room, if you could just sort out stuff on the shop floor that would be great. Just give me a shout if some customers come in, although i think its highly unlikely" And with that she wandered off to the back room and left Alec leading against the counter.

For the rest of the morning Alec busied himself with tidying up the shop and doing odd jobs here and there, just waiting for someone to come in. And eventually he did...

The door was opened and the bell gave a small ring as a gust of cold air blue into the shop accompanied by a tall man with black hair styled to perfection (Alec wondered how it hadn't been ruined by all the wind and rain) and the most amazing green eyes Alec had ever seen.

The man walked confidently up to the counter and stopped in front of it.

 **Whoop Whoop I actually finished a chapter! Let me know if you want me to do parts of the story from Magnus's point of view as well! Tell me what you think :)Also I have read all the books in both clary and alecs list and I recommend them all!**


	2. Chapter 2

A/N wow finally writing another chapter! sorry is taken me so long! Thank you for the reviews, i honestly wasn't expecting any :) Any ways unfortunately i do not own TMI or any of the wonderful characters.

Chapter 2

 **Magnus's POV**

 _Today will be a good day, today has to be a good day._

Magnus stared at himself in the mirror as he put the final touches onto his already very glittery hair. It had to look perfect. You cannot have a good day without fabulous hair, that was Magnus's belief anyway. Once he had finally finished his hair he gave himself a quick once over to check that he was looking up to his exceptionally high standards. He was.

Magnus opened him rainbow umbrella up with a sigh, as much as he loved the umbrella he hated the reason for its use. Magnus was not a fan of rain, it was wet and cold and just generally unpleasant and of course more often then not it ruined his hair. But today was not going to be a hair ruining day Magnus decided as he set off towards the center of Brooklyn. Usually Magnus was stick his headphones on and blat Adam Lambert but today something was different Magnus didn't want to block out the world around him. He wanted to walk around the city that he was so familiar with and yet just a stranger in.

After about 10 minutes of walking Magnus noticed a small shop nestled between two large buildings. He decided to go have a look, its not like he had anything better to do anyway... Magnus shivered as he walked up to the worn blue door. He opened in and hear a small tinkle of a bell. Once inside the building, he discovered that it was a bookshop. Magnus felt a smile growing on his face, he had always felt comfortable in bookshops. He didn't really know why, its not like he was a big reader but he loved stories and a bookshop was somewhere where he could just sit and imagine without being judged.

As Magnus sauntered forward to the counter, he suddenly notice a figure leaning against the side of the counter staring at time. The boy was stunning. He had the darkest hair Magnus had ever seen with strands reaching to cover one of the boys stunningly blue eyes. He was tall not quite as tall as Magnus's 6 foot 4 but not far of. When the boy shifted uncomfortably Magnus realized that he had been staring.

 _Probably because he is drop dead gorgeous. Far hotter than Camille..._

The boy had walked around to stand behind the counter and was staring at Magnus expectantly. Magnus smiled. The boy cleared his throat and asked Magnus in a bored voice "is their anything I can help you with?", Magnus was certain that the boy didn't mean to be rude and it was just the tiredness talking, because.. god.. the boy looked tired.

 _Even the bags under his eyes don't make him look worse.. if anything they highlight the contrast between his hair, skin and eyes.._

Magnus smiled again at the boy and said in his most friendly voice "have you got any book recommendations, darling?"

The boy flushed and looked away, when he looked back his face was blank, he gestured to the pile on the side of the counter marked recommendations, "you can read cant you and i know you can see"

 **Alec Pov**

 _Sorry what did he just say? Did he just call me darling, i don't even know the man! ... Does it really matter, honestly, right now I just want to close my eyes and not wake up. I'm so tired. So tired of sleepless nights, of being alone, of being me._

Alec turned away and recollected his emotions which where starting to spread across his face. He signed and just decided to get this conversation over and down with quickly so gave a harsh and frankly rude reply. He hoped that this would deter the guy, but from the look on his face it clearly didn't. He just said, "Yes well I did notice it but I wanted an excuse to talk to you. Also Twilight, really, I mean its a guilty pleasure of mine but I would hardly put it on a list of recommendations", Alec tried to hold back the re-emerging blush but this time he failed to conceal it, he also failed to stop a small smile appearing on his face. "I have to say that Twilight wasn't my choice, its in Clary's pile", the man frowned and Alec started to ramble "Clary, she's my co worker, nice girl, red hair, green eyes,bit nosy"

 _Alec shut up what are you doing! stop getting all flustered and tell him to bugger off._

But Alec's mouth disobeyed his mined and the man made no move to stop him. In fact he almost seemed to be enjoying Alec's rambling, even if it was an random ramble of nervous words. When Alec finally had to stop to gasp for breath the man interjected "wow... that was detailed, darling. I'm Magnus by the way and you are?"

"Alec" he stuttered suddenly nervous after his outburst of random words and opinions

"Interesting name Alec, it suits you" Magnus said with a wink.

Alec blushed.

 _Wow hes hot, very hot, even his name is hot. Alec stop it NOW. stop fouling yourself into thinking his interested in you, he's probably not even gay and just making fun of you!_

Alec's thoughts being to show on his face, his steadily growing smile started to fall making way for a blank expression, "its short for Alexander", he said in a faltering voice, "now is their anything I can help you with because i have lots to do as you can see"

Magnus smirked "yes, an empty bookshop its a lot a work, sorry that came out a bit harsh, if you want to be left alone i'll do just that", with that he turned and went to look at the classics section.

Alec was torn, on the one had the man, Magnus, was captivating and genuinely seemed like a caring person, who Alec had been unnecessarily rude to, on the other hand Alec really didn't need anyone getting involved in his life. _It was messy enough anyway, no need to fuck it up even more_. But Alec's interest in the man won. He took a deep breath and awkwardly walked over to Magnus, hoping that at least some coherent sentences would come out of his mouth.

 **A/N Well thats chapter 2 done! sorry it took so long and nothing really happened I promise next chapter will hopefully be a bit more interesting :/ i have a vague idea of the direction i want this story to go in but if you guys have any ideas please let me know!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N Wow i'm actually on chapter 3, that's surprising.**

 **Unfortunately the characters do not and never will belong to me.**

 **Magnus POV**

It really was a shame that Alec didn't seem to be interested in him. Magnus would have been happy, no thrilled to see more of those beautiful blue eyes. But life is life and sometimes things don't work out the way you want them too.

You learn that one from Camille.

But Magnus, few a second, had genuinely thought that Alec liked him or at least found him interesting, why else would that delightful blush have appeared on his exquisite face? Oh well.. Magnus would morn the loss, but he would get over it. Come to think about it this is the first time that Magnus had spent more than a few seconds thinking about a person ho has rejected him, not that rejection happened to him very often. Hardly ever in fact. But Alec seemed different, Magnus didn't know why, but when does one truly understand their feelings?

Magnus managed to pry his thoughts of the beautiful man long enough to look at what section he was standing in, Classics. Magnus liked the stories behind the classics, he just didn't understand why they were always so wordy. It vexed him immensely and it was one of those things that he would get very emotional about when drunk, his friends, unsurprisingly found it hilarious.

The sound of someone stumble behind him broke his thoughts.

 **Alec POV**

 _Wow alec so smooth, bloody nearly fall on your face write behind him._

Alec was contemplating walking back to the counter as fast as possible when Magnus turned around to look at him.

 _Crap, so much for my escape plan_

Alec awkwardly tugged at his sleeves pulling them over his hands before he blurted out "I'm sorry, for snapping at you, it was extremely unprofessional of me and I apologies", then he started ramble "Its just that I'm very tired, i know that's not exactly an excuse , but you know tiredness and me being quite awkward and rude anyway, it all just doesn't mix together well as i just demonstrated"

Magnus cut him off lifting one finger up to Alec's mouth in an attempt to silence him. It worked and Alec's words died on his lips. "Calm down, darling" said Magnus " Its perfectly alright, it happens to the best of us. Like yesterday i had a go at chairman Meow, but maybe that's a story for another time. Anyways i just have three questions and then you can ramble to your hearts content, hopefully answering my questions in the process if possible" Magnus said with a small smirk.

 _God that smirk was hot and just adds to the over all beauty of the man_

"Okay" Alec stuttered

"Good" said Magnus with a childlike grin, " Right, just going to worn you now that i'm a bit, well actually very nosy"

Alec's face fell _Shit_

Magnus noticing Alec's change in expression, almost rushed to reassure him "Don't worry darling, you don't have to answer them if you don't want to!"

Alec again stuttered out an okay, and Magnus began his questions "Firstly, why are you so tired darling? Secondly, why a bookshop? Add thirdly", Magnus took a unnoticed deep breath "Would you like to maybe grab a drink with me sometime?"

He looked at Alec with a hopefully glow in his beautiful green eyes.

Alec was taken aback, had he just heard Magnus correctly. A million thoughts were running through his head. Alec was so preoccupied with them that he didn't notice that he hadn't answered any of Magnus's questions.

 **Magnus POV**

Alec looked shocked. Completely baffled and lost in thought and Magnus for the first time in a long time didn't know that to do. After about 5 minutes Magnus plucked up the courage to bring Alec out of his thoughts. He cleared his throat and then asked "Alec? look don't worry if you don't want to, its totally fine" he trailed off. Alec quickly interjected "what?! No, sorry i was just lost in thought, it happens quite a lot, sorry. But I think that I would like to, but I don't drink, its that a problem?" Alec's looked truly worried as if he genuinely believed that Magnus would want to spend time with him just because he didn't drink alcohol, how bizarre this boy was. "No, no Alec of course thats not a problem at all, maybe instead you would like to have dinner with me, i know this great little place down town, the owner is a good friend of mine" Alec started to smile "I think I would like that". Magnus grinned in response. He was happier that he imagined he would be.

 _God Magnus you've only only known the man for twenty minutes, half an hour at a push. Calm down_

But Magnus ignored his thoughts and continued to grin like a madman. Alecs small smile was growing to, starting to reflect Magnus's. "Brilliant, I'll pick you up at 8?"

"8 works for me"

"Great, but I've just remembered darling you didn't answer my other two questions"

Alecs smile faltered slightly and he replied briefly "I work in a bookshop because, well, simply i like books. I'm tired because I had a late night, thats it" Something about what Alec had said and the way he said it just made Magnus think that he was lying but Magnus wasn't going to push him and risk Alec pulling out of their date. So instead he replied with a short "Okay, that seems fair enough". Alec breathed an inaudible sign of relief, which just made magnus even more curious.

 _I will find out the real reason... Jesus magnus calm down, its probably nothing_

"i have one question" Alec blurted " who's chairman meow?". Magnus smiled "Oh, his my cat, completely adorable but a real menace, I'll tell you about it this evening", Magnus winked, "but now I've got to get ready for this evening". Alec looked confused, " Magnus, it 3:30". Magnus looked shocked "As late as that? I really have no time, I'll pick you up at 8, see you soon darling" and with that magnus turned and left the small bookshop.

The rain had cleared by the time Magnus was outside, it really was going to be a good day, he thought with a smile.

 **Alec POV**

 _Shit_

A/N that's the end of this chapter! I'm so excited to write the next one! Anything you want to happen during their date or later in the plot? just leave your ideas in the reviews!


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